If you are a potential massage chair buyer, it may be helpful to find an unbiased review of a given massage recliner. Here are 5 important categories to evaluate your total massage chair experience. This system gives equal weight to each of the 5 categories, with each category ranging from 0 to 20. A score of 100 points means that the president and the company have achieved total excellence. The 5 categories are warranty and customer service, comfort/ergonomics, ease of use, features, and massage therapy. The discipline of a systematic approach that provides balance helps those who are seriously considering a massage chair. The Panasonic Real Pro EP-3222 is the subject of this review. This luxury shiatsu massage chair is in the $4,000 to $5,000 range.
Warranty and customer service: First is how the manufacturer rates on both warranty coverage and customer service. The manufacturer must stand behind their product. Panasonic offers 1 year labor, 1 year parts, and 1 year on-site service, as well as 1 year shipping. Panasonic puts a limit on the useful life of the machine of 1,000 hours of use. Panasonic offers a short warranty combined with the 1000 hour limit (for heavy users), the warranty rates are acceptable. Electronics companies like Panasonic (or Sanyo) like to sell extended warranties. Panasonic offers in-home technical service and will pay shipping for the first year. Customer service is through your dealer. Service times vary by service center location. Panasonic’s overall warranty and customer service rating is 15.
Comfort and ergonomics: Massage recliners should conform to the body and be comfortable to sit on. The Panasonic Real Pro Elite has soft padded armrests. The EP-3222 has a soft upholstered detachable head pillow to support your head. In general, the chair is comfortable to sit on. One point of restriction is the footrest. The footrest remains at a fixed length and cannot be adjusted for taller people. If you are taller, you can raise the horizontal footrest and place your legs straight. Then you miss the foot compression massage. Panasonic’s overall rating for comfort, ergonomics and customer service is 17.
Ease of Use: Ease of use is defined as how intuitive the controls are and how complicated they are to use without reading the instructions. Panasonic is a leader in the development of remote controls that use LCD screens and other advanced features. The Real Pro Elite EP-3222 has many features and consequently many buttons on the controller. Most are intuitive, but some take some getting used to, which means less ease of use. Panasonic tries to compensate for this with its “Voice Guide” function. The auto massage buttons are located on top of the controls for easy access and have a “focus” button that allows you to repeat the massage action that occurred. The Real Pro Elite has a side panel with additional manual massage controls for lower body massages. The Panasonic Real Pro Elite overall rating for ease of use is 17.
Key Features: Important features of the Panasonic EP-3222 are the Swede-Atsu, which is designed to replicate the techniques of a masseuse, 33 airbags in the lower body air massage system and rear rollers they cover 185 square inches. The Swede-Atsu uses rubber massage heads to replicate the movement of the palms of the hands, pressing with the palm of the hand and kneading with the thumbs. Back coverage expanded to 185 square inches is impressive for full back coverage. Panasonic includes 33 airbags in the Real Pro Elite. There are 3 lower body massages including Grasp, Auto and Squeeze. There are a number of impressive features packed into the EP-3222. The overall feature rating of the Panasonic Real Pro Elite is 19.
Massage Therapy – Massage functions are included in the Real Pro Elite EP-3222 includes four 14-minute pre-programs, a 5-minute quick program, and a 14-minute auto program has 4 full-body auto courses, 5 massage settings massage speed for a total combination of 14 massage courses. Automatic massage functions include the following: Shiatsu, Gentle, Deep, and Refresh. Panasonic equips the EP-3222 with its unique Swede-Atsu massage system, providing a complete and realistic range of massage therapy options. The lower body has 33 coverage airbags and three programs to choose from. This shiatsu massage chair provides good lower body tension relief and greater lateral back coverage. The overall rating for the Panasonic EP-3222 Massage Recliner Chair for Massage Therapy is 19.
How does the Panasonic Real Pro Elite EP-3222 compare? Overall our Panasonic rating is 87/100. Panasonic continues to expand the range of capabilities of its massage chairs with increased back coverage, voice guidance and its Swede-Atsu massage system. The design of the massage chair is very modern, perhaps too modern, but that is a matter of taste. Panasonic massage chair technology, both for the mechanical and pneumatic system, provides an overall firm and complete massage. Panasonic needs to add an extendable footrest to accommodate taller people. Otherwise, the Real Pro Elite is a solid all-round therapeutic massage chair.